Month: January 2017

It must have been sometime in January of this year when I first ran across a small article in one of our trade magazines on a newly developed technology while eating my lunch. This new printer technology was being developed by HP, and they to called it “Edgeline”.

The Edgeline prototype had a fixed printhead (part of the printer that administers ink to paper). This innovative printhead was as wide as the paper itself so it did not need to move laterally from side to side to deliver ink to paper as in all other traditional inkjet printers. Because of this it has much faster printing speeds, so the developing technology was being directed toward photo kiosks and high-speed industrial users.

The average life of inkjet printers has been gradually declining over time. Although current print quality and retail price for new machines have never been better, don’t get your heart set on growing old with your new printer.

Everyday, we receive orders from customers, new and old, ordering cartridges for their “vintage” HP Deskjet or Officejet printers from the early 1990’s. There are a good number of people ordering for their 10-year-old Epson and Canon printers too, but I am really starting to see a dropoff in life cycle of printers made in the last 3 or 4 years.

You’ve just installed a new cartridge into your printer but then a chill runs down your spine as you see the ink monitor registering the cartridge as empty!

“How can these cartridges be empty? I just opened them!”

At this point, the most common reaction is to swear and fume about how you got an empty cartridge or throw your hands in the air. However, there is a relatively quick solution, and an explanation as to why this is happening.

First of all, let’s talk about the printer’s built-in visual “ink monitor” function.

A “portable” printer does not just mean “easily moved”. It means that the printer can travel with you and be used in a variety of locations away from your home or office computer. This gives you the ability to work virtually anywhere.

Printers with the “portable” name are typically very compact and lightweight, and come in a variety of styles and options depending on the intended use.

If you need a printer for use in places that typically don’t offer printer access, then you may be a legitimate candidate for a portable printer.

It was late on Thursday night and I was watching my wife as she painstakingly copied individual photos from her favorites list in Picassa (a photo utility program), into a new album for her parents.

After watching her repetition of mouse movements (right click, copy and paste functions) at work for a minute, I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Honey, you know there is a faster way to get all of those photos into a new album than clicking them individually. To copy all of them, push the “Control” button (“Ctrl”) and the letter “A” at the same time, then “Ctrl-C”. That copies all of the pictures. Now select the new location where you want them and push “Ctrl-V”. See? Quick and easy?”